"Owners" of Nigeria, let my people breathe

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Hooray! Tomorrow, Nigeria will be 62 years old! This season in 1960, the British stranglehold on slavery was dismantled. Today, all around the nation is an optimistic celebration full of hope. The afflictions that beset the nation remain innumerable. What torments Nigerians today are the fallout from the cruel collusion between the British and the Nigerians whom they handpicked before independence as the 'owners' of Nigeria who will not let my people breathe . Every year, Nigeria is getting older but not growing. We are united but unity is far from many hearts. We face immense struggles in all their forms and on all fronts. Many of the elements that make up this country are still combing through pages of history books to find the justification for Lord Lugard's merging with a people who cannot see eye to eye. The last century of the union was tumultuous. Marriage no longer seems to make sense to many. The truth, however, is that behind our many difficulties lie the actions and inactions of the "owners" of Nigeria who will not let my people breathe.

At their daytime gatherings, these "owners" of Nigeria determine who holds what specific authority and controls how much. In their nocturnal meetings, they position ill-intentioned men and women. They recycle their ilk for the benefit of power and hold the country by the jugular. As a result of depravity, regression and backwardness become the part of the population. Who really are these people who will not let Nigeria and Nigerians breathe? Who are these guys with their knees on our necks as the prosperous and endowed nation struggles to suck a breath of life? They are living and breathing human demons. They unleash immeasurable misery on the people. This treatise is not about naming names; some names easily come to mind. We know many of them as their agents operate from dark and desolate spaces, destroying the beauty of our space, ruining our economy, impoverishing people and deploying religion and ethnicity to create a lavish gap that helps perpetuate their penchant for hoarding our community. No political party gets power, except the "owners" of Nigeria who acquiesce. No man becomes president if he does not approve a yes. These "owners" only bring torment and torture to the people and enrich themselves. They are the cause of Nigeria's free fall into Gehenna.

Down with me where Nigeria was and walk with me where we are today as we celebrate 62 years of freedom that only exists on paper. In the 1980s, the US dollar was selling for just 0.78k. Today, $1 is hovering around N700. Once upon a time, Nigeria was a net exporter of refined petroleum products. To date, imports currently account for over 80% of Nigeria's refined product supply, creating huge potential for local refining. Peugeot cars were once assembled in Kaduna, Volkswagen cars in Lagos, Leyland in Ibadan and ANAMCO in Enugu. Together, these giant structures have flooded the market with locally assembled cars, buses and trucks. What happened to us? Nigeria Airways was pretty much the largest in Africa at that time as Nigerians traveled the world aboard the great bird. Greed and gluttony shaped and allowed by the "owners" of Nigeria wiped out the big bird and we don't know if it will ever fly.

There is nothing Nigerians can't do unless the "owners" of Nigeria let them. We heard that our local auto assembly, Innoson Motors, has supplied 80% of the jeeps that the Nigerian army has used over the last 10 years. How long will Innoson stay afloat without the disruptive brigandage of the "owners" of Nigeria? Innoson's will affirms the fact that if only the "owners" of Nigeria let Nigerians breathe, there is nothing Nigerians cannot do for Nigeria. I saw the picture of Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo's official car. It was not made in America, nor assembled in Japan, nor manufactured anywhere in Europe. But it was manufactured by Innoson Motors in Anambra State, Nigeria. There's nothing Nigerians can't do for Nigeria if the system lets them breathe!

Nigerians are leaving Nigeria in droves because of the very bitter environment created by the bluster and deceit of Nigerian “owners” in all areas of Nigerian life. In almost every nation in the world, you will find Nigerians putting their brains to work for other nations. Not so long ago, a hospital in Houston saw a handful of Nigerian doctors successfully separate 10-month-old conjoined twins in a 26-hour operation that made waves in America and the medical world. The 12-man medical team included Prof Oluyinka Olutoye, his anesthetist wife Dr Toyin and a Dr Ms Oluyemisi Adeyemi-Fowode, a pediatric gynecology fellow at the hospital. A Nigerian engineer, Jude Igwemezie, who lives in Canada was commissioned b...